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- PETER VARGHESE. Australian Universities and China. Part 1 of 2 19 October 2018
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- MICHELLE FAHY. Invictus Games, glossing over inconvenient truths-the arms trade and the British royals 19 October 2018
- Let us stop the Queen’s death watch (Editorial SMH 18.10.2018) 19 October 2018
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Recent comments
- Evan Hadkins on GAY ALCORN. ‘Australia is in trouble’: majority media and lobbying destroy trust in politics, Garnaut says.
- Evan Hadkins on JOHN DWYER. The extraordinary determination of China to have the world embrace its traditional medicine. (Part 3 of 3.)
- Kerry Faithfull on JOHN DWYER. The extraordinary determination of China to have the world embrace its Traditional Medicine. (Part one of three)
- Kim Wingerei on KIM WINGEREI. Wentworth Democracy
- Vincent Cheok on ‘Divisive’: Former RBA governor Bernie Fraser turns on neoliberalism (the New Daily, 17.10.18)
Category Archives: Economy
RICHARD DENNISS. Trump’s tax cuts will increase inequality. Australia shouldn’t follow his lead.
The fiscal policies of conservatives like Trump and Scott Morrison are eating away at the fabric of society.
Posted in Economy, International Affairs
1 Comment
‘Divisive’: Former RBA governor Bernie Fraser turns on neoliberalism (the New Daily, 17.10.18)
Former Reserve Bank governor Bernie Fraser has called for a radical rethink to policy-making, saying the way to a fairer, more equal society is with a pragmatic approach.
MICHAEL KEATING. The Change from Turnbull to Morrison: What Difference has It Made?
Now that Scott Morrison has passed the fifty-day landmark as Prime Minister, this article considers what has changed since the demise of Malcolm Turnbull and what difference Scott Morrison will make in resolving the major policy challenges that Australia is … Continue reading
PETER RYAN. ‘Big four’ accounting firms should face banking royal commission to prove independence, former ASIC investigator says.
A former forensic investigator at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has called for the major accounting firms hired to audit and approve sensitive company reports to be brought before the financial services royal commission to prove their independence.
WILLIAM PESEK. ‘Great Depression’ ahead? IMF sounds dire warning.
Massive government debts and eroded fiscal buffers since 2008 suggest global dominos await a single market crash.
Posted in Economy
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ADAM MORTON. In a canter? Climate experts say Australia will not meet emissions targets. (Guardian 11.10.2108)
Guardian Australia spoke to 12 economists and scientists – almost all reject government’s claim to be on track. Leading climate researchers have overwhelmingly rejected the federal government’s claim it is on track to cut greenhouse gas emissions as promised under … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Environment and climate, Politics
1 Comment
JOHN MENADUE. Ignore the planet and our grand children at our peril.
The government has thrown in its lot with climate sceptics, the loony right which includes the Murdoch media and the coal miners. We have a government with no policy on climate change at all. The responses by the Prime Minister, … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Environment and climate, Media, Politics
3 Comments
MARK BUTLER. There is only one energy future: firmed renewables. (AFR 10.10.2018)
Australia is in the deep throes of the most severe energy crisis in living memory. Power and gas prices have skyrocketed in recent years and are continuing to go up in spite of claims from the Liberal government that they … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Environment and climate, Politics
2 Comments
ANDREW TILLETT. Deputy PM Michael McCormack shelves inquiry into road pricing
A raft of economists have called for a road-user charge, including former Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry, in his tax review, and former Productivity Chair, Peter Harris. [We continue to waste billions of dollars on more and more roads, but refuse … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
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ROSS GITTINS. Why businesses are behaving badly. (SMH 6.10.2018)
While we digest the royal commission’s evidence of shocking misconduct by the banks and insurance companies, there’s another unpalatable truth to swallow: they have no monopoly on bad behaviour.
Posted in Economy, Politics
3 Comments
ROSS GARNAUT. Where Australia’s at 10 years after climate change review. (AFR 8.10.2018)
Energy costs will be lower if there is more investment in renewables capacity.
Posted in Economy, Environment and climate, Politics
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WAYNE MCMILLAN. Insecure work by another name
The NSW Business Chamber and the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) are leading the charge on behalf of employer business interests. It’s obvious that both their main concerns are to create a new class of insecure workers … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
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SALVATORE BABONES. Australia -the world’s first immigration economy.
Australia’s economy is addicted to immigration, requiring ever-increasing infusions of new people to stave off an inevitable collapse.
Posted in Economy, Refugees, Immigration
4 Comments
JOHN MENADUE. The failings of our corporate sector- and not just the banks and insurance companies.
Our politicians are rightly receiving a hammering for their failures . We really do need to restore public trust in our political system. I have suggested a national summit after the next election on democratic renewal, different in subject but … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
5 Comments
ROSS GITTINS. Nowhere to hide now for banks. (SMH 3.10.2018)
Last week must have been a terrifying wake-up call for Australia’s ruling class – not just our politicians, but also the chief executives and directors of our big corporations, both publicly and privately owned. If they’re half as smart as … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
5 Comments
PETER WHITEFORD. Relax. The divide between the taxed and the ‘taxed-nots’ isn’t new and doesn’t buy elections.
Might government benefits, and government employment, be a self sustaining machine – one in which those who benefit from government payments deliver the votes needed to ensure they continue?
MICHAEL KEATING. The Medium-Term Economic Outlook
The last decade has been characterised by economic stagnation in almost all the advanced economies. But President Trump and Prime Minister Scott Morrison are now promising a rosy future, with the US and Australian economies supposedly returning to past rates … Continue reading
Posted in Economy
2 Comments
WILLIAM BRIGGS. Strange Bedfellows: The Tasmanian Greens and ultra right in the China panic.
What do the Tasmanian Greens and Australia First Party have in common? While it’s unlikely to pop up in any trivia night, what they say is by no means trivial. What shouldn’t happen is very nearly happening. Recent statements from … Continue reading
Posted in Economy
2 Comments
CHRISTOPHER SHEIL, FRANK STILWELL. Inequality stocktake … or snowjob by the Productivity Commission?
The Productivity Commission has issued a new report called Rising Inequality? A Stocktake of the Evidence. However, when looking at the distribution of wealth in Australia, it turns out not to be a ‘stocktake of the evidence’ at all. Rather, … Continue reading
MICHAEL PASCOE. ‘Not pretty, but riveting’: Royal commission interim report due (the New Daily, 27.09.18)
Here comes the first of Kenneth Hayne’s large hobnailed boots up the backside of Australian banking, superannuation, financial advice, wealth management, insurance and regulation. It’s not going to be pretty, but it’s certainly going to be riveting. Most obviously the … Continue reading
JOCELYN PIXLEY. Emma Alberici’s data was inconvenient for corporate tax cutters.
Times are dangerous for the ABC, at least to those who appreciate fair, independent journalism. My example is Emma Alberici’s report on corporate tax cuts, which was stating what is well-known across the OECD for years. In addition, taxes are … Continue reading
MARIE COLEMAN. Fixing the Women problems: Retirement Incomes, Parental Leave, and the Gender Pay Gap.
With a statement imminent from Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer, Labor has announced modest changes to improve Paid Parental Leave ( $400 million over the out years) and proposed new measures to diminish the gender pay gap. Both measures should … Continue reading
CHRIS FOTINOPOULOS. Bigotry is bad business, so why not let the consumer decide?
Take a drive along any arterial road in Australia and you’re likely to pass dwellings dedicated to various deities with its congregants practising their brand of faith free of external interference. Apart from the exclusive varieties, most churches are open … Continue reading
Posted in Economy
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TREVOR KENNEDY. Consultants are a blight on government and business.
It is, at the very least, arguable that consultants have become toxic weeds in business and government in Australia.
Posted in Economy
2 Comments
MICHAEL PASCOE. Why now is definitely not the time to scrap negative gearing (The New Daily, 21.09.18)
Conventional and entirely reasonable wisdom holds that the middle of a drought is not the time to develop drought policy – but that is what we appear to be headed for with Scott Morrison’s “drought summit”.
RICHARD DENNISS. Our regulators fail to protect the vulnerable from the greedy. Let’s find out why.
Neoliberalism’s best trick was convincing us that ‘empowering’ citizens to shop around would deliver better services at a lower cost.
Posted in Economy, Infrastructure
1 Comment
ROSS GITTINS. How market forces have failed the nation (SMH 19.9.2018)
How will the era of “neoliberalism” end – with a bang or a whimper? With a royal commission – or three. But don’t worry. Royal commissions always make a lot of noise. With the memory of the government’s embarrassing delay … Continue reading
ROSS GITTINS. Long way to go to get banks back in their box (SMH 17.9.2018)
Have we learnt from the mistakes of the global financial crisis, now 10 years ago? Yes, but not nearly as much as we should have.
WAYNE SWAN. Ten years after the crash, tax competition threatens global economies and democracies.
Ten years ago, the global financial system was rocked by the largest crisis since the Great Depression.
Posted in Economy, Politics
2 Comments
ROSS GITTINS. Morrison’s surplus secret: bracket creep kills the tax cuts. (SMH 15-16.9.2018)
The mystery revealed. Consider this: how does the Morrison government cut income and company taxes and avoid big cuts in government spending, but still project ever-rising budget surpluses and ever-falling net public debt over the next decade? With publication of … Continue reading